It would be hard to find a better First Round fit for the Texans

I can’t begin to tell you how happy I was when the Texans took Hopkins. Truth be told, I thought the board was extremely favorable when the Texans selected at 27 with Justin Hunter, Arthur Brown and DeAndre all there.

I was concerned that the Texans might try and get cute and move back, but that could have been dangerous unless they also really like Robert Woods as well. When I looked at how the draft board stacked up at WR, it was obvious that if they didn’t get a WR in the 1st, they could be in some trouble if they waited all the way until the 57th pick.

Hopkins is the most game-ready of all the WRs in this draft as far as I’m concerned. He plays with consistency of effort on run plays as well as passing plays and he is a natural pass catcher. Clemson used him on all three levels of the field which is important considering that the Texans passing game is set up to take advantage of all three levels (short, intermediate and deep).

Hopkins is considered a good, not great athlete and his 40 times is fairly unimpressive (high 4.5s), he plays to his speed on the field. Kareem Jackson ran in the 4.4s but doesn’t play to that long speed when the pads are on. “Nuk” Hopkins plays with good football speed and his route-running is solid enough of that he should be able to get deep on CBs when asked.

Z-Report Final Say: The Texans had to find a wide receiver in this draft who could come in and start right away and play at a productive level. There were probably fewer of those types of WRs in this draft than you think, but Hopkins was definitely one of them. Great addition by the Texans.